ERCOT Large Load Interconnection Explained

By Batu Yetki, founder of Voltane.

Who is involved

The customer. The data center, industrial plant or other large user asking for service.
The utility. The company that owns the wires where the site connects. It receives the request and builds the connection.
ERCOT. The grid operator for most of Texas. It sets study requirements and reviews how a large new load affects the system.
The PUCT. The Public Utility Commission of Texas writes the rules that utilities and ERCOT follow.

Parts of Texas are outside ERCOT. A site there follows a different grid operator's process. See Texas has more than one grid.

The broad steps

The details change, so read this as an outline and confirm each step with your utility and ERCOT:

Request. The customer asks the utility for service at a site and states the demand.
Pre-study requirements. For large loads covered by SB 6, the customer signs an intermediate agreement, shows site control, discloses duplicate requests, pays a study fee and posts security.
Study. The request is studied to see what the grid needs in order to serve the load.
Agreement. The customer and the utility sign an interconnection agreement that covers facilities and costs.
Construction. The utility and the customer build their parts.
Energization. The connection is switched on.

What Texas SB 6 requires before a study

The PUCT adopted its SB 6 large-load rule on September 18, 2026, effective October 8, 2026. As Voltane reads the adopted order:

It applies to a new or expanded interconnection of 75 MW or more at a single site.
Before any study starts, the customer signs an intermediate agreement with the utility.
The customer shows site control: a lease of at least five years, a deed, or a signed option to purchase or lease, held by the customer or an affiliate.
The customer discloses duplicate requests elsewhere in Texas.
The customer pays a flat $100,000 study fee. Unused amounts are returned. ERCOT may add its own study fee, which the rule does not set.
The customer posts security of $50,000 per MW of requested peak demand. After the study, the security is the greater of that amount or the upgrade cost allocated to the request.

This is a summary, not legal advice. Read the order and confirm with ERCOT and your utility.

What happens to the security if you withdraw

Under the adopted rule, the whole security comes back, less amounts owed, if the customer withdraws before the study starts or is allocated no capacity. If the customer withdraws after ERCOT has allocated capacity, 20% of the security tied to the allocated MW is kept and the rest is returned. If the customer neither withdraws nor signs the interconnection agreement by the deadline, all of it is forfeited.

The SB 6 calculator runs this arithmetic for your request size and names the source of each figure.

Why this changes site selection

Before the rule, a large load could ask for a connection with little money down, and many requests covered the same project at several sites. Now each request needs land and cash behind it. That pushes the hard thinking earlier. You want to know a site is worth a request before you tie up an option and post security.

Screening helps with that choice. It does not replace the study. Voltane's time to power estimates come from generation queue history, not large-load history, and its capacity signal is a proxy, never available MW.

Where to check the current rules

Go to the primary sources: the PUCT for the rule text, ERCOT for its large load interconnection procedures and study requirements, and your utility for its own process and timeline. Rules in this area have changed recently and may change again.

For terms, see the glossary entries on large load interconnection and Texas SB 6.

Questions people ask

What size counts as a large load under Texas SB 6?

The adopted PUCT rule applies to a new or expanded interconnection of 75 MW or more at a single site. Check the current rule text for any change.

Do I need to own the land before the study?

No. Under the adopted rule a signed option to purchase or lease counts as site control, as does a deed or a lease of at least five years.

How long does a large load interconnection take in ERCOT?

It varies by site and by the upgrades needed. Voltane does not publish a large-load timeline. Its time to power estimates come from generation queue history. Ask your utility and ERCOT.

Sources

PUCT Project 58481, order adopting 16 TAC 25.194 (Texas SB 6 large-load rule)

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The ERCOT large load interconnection process, explained